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Daniel Yankelevits
USC Gould School of Law

Daniel Yankelevits

Lecturer in Law

699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA

Last Updated: August 28, 2019




Daniel Yankelevits is executive vice president of legal affairs at Sony Pictures Entertainment in Culver City, Calif. His primary responsibilities include negotiating and drafting talent agreements, financing agreements, rights agreements and other agreements relating to motion picture projects (both animated and live-action). Prior to his tenure at Sony Pictures, Yankelevits was a business affairs executive in the motion picture group at DreamWorks, where he negotiated agreements relating to all aspects of numerous feature films. He previously served as director of business and legal affairs at New Line Cinema, and as director of business affairs for Home Box Office (HBO), where he helped structure the deals for series such as “The Sopranos.”

Prior to teaching Entertainment Law and Industry at USC Gould, Yankelevits taught a class at UCLA Extension titled "Negotiating Talent Agreements and Motion Picture Contracts." He is the co-author of Hollywood Dealmaking (Allworth Press, 2002), and has written several articles about the motion picture industry. He served as chairman of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Section, from 1998-1999 and currently is a member of the Los Angeles Copyright Society. Yankelevits also serves on the planning committee for the Institute on Entertainment Law and Business, held annually at USC.

Yankelevits earned his JD from Harvard Law School and studied philosophy as an undergraduate at Binghamton University in New York. He began his legal career at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles. 

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LLM Guide
June 5, 2023
Re: USC Gould School of Law

Law schools have been adapting to the increase in technological advancements, especially with the increased need for attorneys with the creation of AI. “Attorneys work on the front end, conducting threat assessments to ensure that their clients’ systems and data are protected, and on the back end, to navigate any legal issues that may arise as a result of the attacks," Gruzas said.

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